France underestimates possible attacks on its nuclear plants as Islamists could have access already: report

A report on the safety of French nuclear power plants was recently made public. Some information in it is quite shocking as individuals who pose a national security could have entered some of the plants, Le Dauphine reports.

After 83 auditions and 7 visits to nuclear plants, the parliamentary commission on nuclear installations’s safety and security published its conclusions.

The commission was created by the recommendations of Hervé Saulignac, a deputy of the Socialist Party, after Greenpeace activists entered without difficulty the nuclear installations of Cruas/Meysse last in November 2017.

“The investigations on French sub contractors who work inside the nuclear centres are good, but on the foreign sub contractors, the results are very worrying. Of course some Fiche S had access to the nuclear installations via sub contractors” deputy Saulignac said.

In France, a “Fiche S” is an indicator used by law enforcement to flag an individual considered to be a serious threat to national security. The “S” stands for “state security”. It is the highest level of such a warning in France.

It was not explicitly specified what kind of national threat these foreign contractors pose but there are indications that extremists are involved.

“Experts don’t believe in exterior attacks, they think the danger will come from the inside” Saulignac said. He could be right as terrorists do target nuclear facilities.

Last week Voice of Europe already reported that not Brussels airport but a French nuclear reactor was the main target of ISIS in March 2016. Islamic terrorists serious plans to blow up cars near a plant an ex-jihadist said.